Plasma etching apparatus are well known for etching wafers such as, for instance, semiconductor wafers. Typical plasma etching apparatus generally comprise a plasma chamber for containing a plasma field, an electrode mounted in the plasma chamber, a wafer feed assembly for feeding wafers to the electrode for plasma etching and a wafer retrieval assembly for retrieving etched wafers from the plasma chamber. For exemplary etching, it is important for the wafer to rest normal and flush against the electrode. However, because manufacturing flaws can result in wafers having surface irregularities, flawed wafers subject to plasma etching can become irreparably damaged. Because the prior art provides little to solve this long-felt problem in the art, the occasion for certain new and useful improvements proves necessary.
Accordingly, it would be highly desirable to provide improved plasma etching apparatus and methods and apparatus for verifying wafers for plasma etching processes.
It is a purpose of the present invention to provide new and improved apparatus for verifying wafers that is easy to implement with existing plasma etching technology.
It is another purpose of the present invention to provide new and improved apparatus for verifying wafers that is easy to construct.
It is still another purpose of the present invention to provide new and improved apparatus for verifying wafers that is easy to use.
It is a further purpose of the present invention to provide new and improved apparatus for verifying wafers that is inexpensive.
It is still a further provision of the present invention to maximize yield in plasma etching processes.
It is yet still a further purpose of the present invention to provide a new and improved method of verifying wafers that is highly efficient and easy to implement.
It is another provision of the present invention to enhance the functional utility of plasma etching apparatus.
It is still another provision of the present invention to limit waste of flawed wafers in plasma etching processes.
It is yet still another provision of the present invention to substantially eliminated unproductive operation time during plasma etching processes.